THE NEW YORKER let her see vou making fun of that kid." "Look, mv tongue's got all dry-feel it!" In his interest, Bernard forgot to be 111ad When hIS tongue was com- fortably moistened again, he said, "They'll have to send her to a loony bin h h ' " w en s e s grown up. "Bernard!" Katie was exasperated. "Frightened of your Mommy! What win Mommy say?" Bernard taunted her. Katie got the look on her face of hav- Ing something behind her back that she didn't want to show anyone. "You know it's not that. You'll just hurt her feelings, that's all." She sat there look- ing at us. "Why?" T asked, suddenly feeling awkward. "Because," "he said. "She'd just say it was unkind to talk that wav, that's all," I offered. Kati shook her head A hangnail on her thumb caught on the silk of her dress, and she lifted her thumb and bit at it with fierce concentration for a sec- ond or two. Then she said, "}T ou know why. Because of Uncle Chookie. Uncle Cl k .,. " 100 Ie s zn one Bernard shot her a fast aghast, deri- "ive look. "He's not!" "Oh, yes, he is," she said conversa- tionally. "A mental hospital. That's where he always comes from, to visit us. Where d'you think he is all the time, and why don't we ever go to see him? ,,. "But he's not mad," 1 said, Jooking first at Katie and then at Bernal d, and seeing Bernard as he had been a minute before, with his tongue hanging out and his eyes rolling. "Uncle Chookie's not Inad? " Katie shrugged. She put her smarting thumb to the warlnth of her neck and looked at our stricken faces with a kind of ashamed satisfaction at the slgh t of her handiwork. I SPENT a great deal of time try- ing to find out if what Katie had told us was true. I did everything but ask. That was impossible. Impossible, too, to speak about It to Bernard, who must have been as bewildered as I, or to Katie, who had accepted it and was apparently calmly going on with her life. It was true, of course, that my mother did not allow us to talk of "loonies," but then we were not allowed, either, to call black people "niggers" or "Kaffirs," nor could we, without reproof, be overheard re- ferring to someone who squinted as "boss-eyed." So how was one to tell? I went along the road 111any tImes to . 123 4' ,\ '<.1 .",.. \:, f I ^>. "( ø t k. . , \ , ' f: t '- "'" ,;) .... i , ^>., , " ...-' A .t. " " t "' , , """\ .. ......,.. ! ! ! ! c - { d::. .',," (/f r' ,f;) . " ,,:' -:j " ;, , . :<., : " .--=-:-:...::::;.... ... ",y. . " .; I "'"" lifetime Sterling Silver You are assured of the finest design 1 and the finest quality when your sterling silver selection is made from l A our extensive collection of famous patterns. t \r Priced in 6-plece luncheon place settings: \ *^ A. Princess Fuchsia $54.20 D. Elizabeth n . . . . . $23.50 B Buckingham... $25.50 E. Modern Georgian $60.00 C. Dolly Madison. $38.25 F. Colonial Engraved $44.50 Federal Tax Included. Serving Pieces Available in All Patterns Write or Phone Jean Tree for Mail or Phone Orders PL 7-8 J 00 ßLAUK. STARR, G OR I j FIFTH AVENUE AT 48TH STREET NEW YORK 36, N. Y. EAST ORANGE MANHASSET WHITE PLAINS " -" "l l J __l.---1 r: r -- 0 \r- ----.c::L-----\ , E- E -Yr- I Jr D 'l \ ! =- V _. R - \ 6 V ,-- JI J ì -- J ," , ,; \ :::'j 1 , \. tï B I í L'E- R B"'_I 1I""'l ... "'-- - I '.,..::.'...... ::'::, :. j L. AM E1<tCA'S MgSI-P PULA1<- GAME INSfSt ON C3ENUIN SCRABBLE $3 t :j ,........, .:;=: ...'\o." t . SELCJ-\OW &. RIG,L-\ÌËR...., CO I AAAKERS OF PARCJ-\E:ES' ' AND OrJ-\ER.. -'=-' NE GAMES